Lois Weber

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Lois Weber (1921)

Lois Weber (born June 13, 1879 in Allegheny , Pennsylvania , † November 13, 1939 in Hollywood , Los Angeles , California ) was an American film director .

Life

Lois Weber came from a middle-class family. She played the piano but ran away from home to begin vocal studies in New York City . To get to know the circumstances of poor people, she worked as a missionary in the slums in New York and Pittsburgh . She preached in the street and sang church songs. In 1905 she came to film as an actress, where she met her future husband Phillips Smalley . In 1906 they married. From 1911, she began producing films with her husband as a director and screenwriter. In the ten-minute short Suspense (1913) they used the visually innovative element of split-screen technology with three scenes in one image to depict simultaneity - as was the case with the Danish production The White Sklavin in 1910 - and thus belonged to the artistic avant-garde of the US Films .

In 1914, the film adaptation of The Merchant of Venice was the first feature film in film history to be directed by a woman. Her films were shaped by social issues that were told controversially but still had box office success. In 1916 she moved from the Gaumont Film Company to Universal Studios and became Universal's highest paid director. During this time, the later famous John Ford was one of their assistants. In 1917 she founded her own film production company: Lois Weber Productions . Her most successful film of this time was The Blot (1921) with Claire Windsor and Louis Calhern in the leading roles.

In the 1920s, however, her career took a turn. First, she divorced her alcoholic husband and suffered a nervous breakdown. In the 1920s, their films no longer had the success they had in the years at Universal. In 1926 she married a second time. This marriage ended in divorce in 1935. Lois Weber made her last silent film in 1927 . In 1934 she attempted a comeback with the sound film White Heat , but it was a failure. She then worked as a script doctor for Universal and died impoverished in 1939 at the age of 60.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1912: The Fine Feathers
  • 1912: Leaves in the Storm
  • 1912: A Japanese Idyll
  • 1913: Suspense
  • 1913: The Jew's Christmas
  • 1914: The Merchant of Venice
  • 1915: Hypocrites
  • 1916: Where Are My Children?
  • 1916: Shoes
  • 1917: The Hand That Rocks the Cradle
  • 1921: Too Wise Wives
  • 1921: The Blot
  • 1923: A Chapter in Her Life
  • 1927: Sensation Seekers
  • 1934: White Heat

literature

  • Anthony Slide: Angels from Broadway or: The Entry of Women into Film History [OT: Early Women Directors . Barnes, South Brunswick 1977]. Tende, Münster 1982, ISBN 3-88633-900-9 , pp. 29-45.
  • Shelley Stamp: Lois Weber in Early Hollywood . University of California Press, Oakland, Cal. 2015, ISBN 978-0-520-28446-3 .

Web links

Commons : Lois Weber  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ United States of America, Bureau of the Census. Twelfth Census of the United States, 1900 . Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration, 1900. T623, 1854 rolls. Source Citation: Year: 1900; Census Place: Allegheny Ward 2, Allegheny, Pennsylvania; Roll: T623_1355; Page: 1A; Enumeration District: 17.
personal data
SURNAME Weber, Lois
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film director
DATE OF BIRTH June 13, 1879
PLACE OF BIRTH Allegheny , Pennsylvania , United States
DATE OF DEATH November 13, 1939
Place of death Hollywood , Los Angeles , California , United States